Evelyne Hübscher publishes paper on voter responses to fiscal austerity in the British Journal of Political Science

A new publication by SPP faculty Evelyne Hübscher (together with Thomas Sattler and Markus Wagner) assessing voter responses to fiscal austerity has just come out in the "British Journal of Political Science" . Using data from survey experiments the paper shows that a government's re-election chances greatly decrease if it proposes austerity measures. Voters object particularly strongly to spending cuts and, to a lesser extent, to tax increases.  While voters also disapprove of fiscal deficits, they weight the costs of austerity policies more than their potential benefits for the fiscal balance. These findings are inconsistent with the policies recommended by international financial institutions in the aftermath of the Great Recession.